Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) has participated in Travmedia's International Media Marketplace (IMM) - Australia to market the Maldives as a travel destination. The Maldives is being represented at the fair on behalf of MMPRC by the public relations agency designated for the Australian market, which took place from February 17-18.
Travmedia's IMM is the leading global networking event, connecting the travel industry with top journalists, editors, influencers, and broadcasters. This is the 10th edition of the annual event, which is unrivaled for relationship-building and networking opportunities. This year, the event included 5,665 exhibitors with an estimated 10,500 media personnel attending the event.
About the event, MMPRC said the main purpose of participating in this event is to promote the Maldives as a safe haven for travelers and to update the Australian travel trade with the latest information and travel guidelines from the destination. As such, through the event, MMPRC showcased the geographical advantages of the scattered islands of Maldives, allowing natural social distancing making Maldives one of the safest destinations for tourists.
The participation in IMM is in line with the strategy of MMPRC to maintain the destination presence in this market and to efficiently promote various segments of tourism to travel trade professionals. This strategy aims to assist the destination to increase future bookings and arrival figures from Australia and New Zealand.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Australian market was performing very well with positive growth each year. In 2019, the Australian market was in the top ten in terms of arrivals, with 39,928 tourists coming into the Maldives. Since the pandemic, Australia ceased outbound and inbound travels for the most part of the past two years.
The market just reopened for outbound travels in January 2022, and numbers are predicted to gradually increase this year, considering pre-pandemic figures.